Ton up for Mauricio!

Posted on 10 March 2016
- 11:30

Mauricio Pochettino is ready to hit 100 not out - with his 100th game as Head Coach against Borussia Dortmund this evening.

6442510467

Free

A highly-rated Argentine international defender who played at the 2002 World Cup, Mauricio began his coaching career at Espanyol and took Southampton to their highest Premier League position (eighth) in 2013-14 before joining us ahead of the 2014-15 campaign.

In his first season, Mauricio led us to fifth in the Premier League and the Capital One Cup Final and at the same time, started to embed younger players firmly in the team like Harry Kane, Ryan Mason, Danny Rose and Nabil Bentaleb, all Academy graduates (five played in the Capital One Cup Final), plus Eric Dier, who joined in the summer of 2014.

Turn the clock forward and with nine games remaining of 2015-16, we're second in the Premier League having lost just four times and have the best goal difference having conceded fewest goals so far.

Speaking ahead of a fascinating Europa League Round of 16, first leg, Mauricio said: "It’s a special moment, 100 games. It’s a very good number and I’m very happy to achieve it. There are a lot of great moments and we’ve enjoyed it a lot."

Asked where he saw our young squad at the moment, Mauricio added: "We can feel very proud of the players, there haven't been many games where we can complain and we've kept a good level over the whole season.

"Today we can show a strong mentality, this is important for me with belief and we show that every week and in every game we play.